


Changing Fate

by jamesilver



Series: Drarry Trashy Tropes [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: ABOUT THE MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH its literally harry lmao, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Battle of Hogwarts, Falling In Love, Happy Ending, Hogwarts Sixth Year, M/M, Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, just a whole lot of angst, there are some obliviates, they're in love ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 12:32:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19426063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamesilver/pseuds/jamesilver
Summary: Draco stared down at his soul mark for the millionth time, looking at those two words that changed his life, two words that told him how his soulmate would die:A Martyr.He remembered the words that Harry had said to him on the train, that he would kill the Dark Lord or "die trying," and knew there was more truth to that than Harry had intended.Harry James Potter would die trying to defeat Voldemort. And, successful or not, that would leave him a martyr.Burying his face in his hands, Draco began to sob.





	Changing Fate

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second installment in "Drarry Trashy Tropes". If you like this take some time to read the other trashy aus and subscribe for anything that follows. Thank you!

Sunlight streamed through Harry's window and he stretched, lifting his arms above his head. Another day of work that he did not want to do, but today was special. Today was his sixteenth birthday. 

Arms coming back down, Harry rubbed his right hand across his face, eyes opening as he pushed his hair out of his eyes. 

And then--there--he froze. There was something on his wrist. 

Pulling his arm away from his face, he squinted, trying to make out what it was. But he was unable to see without his glasses so he sat up and began fumbling for them. His frustration increased as he couldn't find them, his curiosity peaking alongside it. Eventually, he gave up and said, "Accio glasses," before promptly feeling them in his hand. 

Slipping them on his face, he was finally able to see what was on his wrist. It was words. Specifically, the words "Of Old Age." 

Harry tilted his head, eyebrows lifting together. What did that mean? 

A small tap at his window drew his attention. Two owls were perched on his windowsill, both awaiting with birthday letters from his friends. Figuring he wasn't going to figure out the cryptic mark yet, he decided to not worry about it. There were more important things going on.

__________

Turns out, there were "more important things" for Harry to focus on for the rest of the summer. And suddenly he was back on platform 9 3/4 and had barely given the surprise-tattoo another thought. 

Standing on the platform, he noticed a group of sixth year girls all huddled around each other, wrists displayed in a circle, talking and shrieking. It served as reminder enough of what was on his own wrist. So maybe it wasn't just isolated to him then? 

Sitting down next to Ron and across from Hermione, he was just about to ask about it when Hermione rushed in first. 

"Harry, did you get yours?" 

Staring at her blankly and wishing she would hurry it up so he could ask his question, he said, "My what?" 

She rolled her eyes. "Your soul mark. On your sixteenth birthday, wizards and witches get a soul mark that tells them how their soulmate is going to die." 

Harry's eyes went wide as he realized that her question fit perfectly into his. "Yeah! Oh, 'of old age' makes so much more sense now!" 

Ron turned to him, eyes blank. "Yours says 'of old age'?" Harry nodded. "Merlin, that is so unfair." 

"Anyway," Hermione cut in. "It's generally polite to not share your soulmarks or flaunt them to your friends before your friends have theirs. Which is why Ron and I decided to wait to talk about them." 

"Oh, yeah, that's right," Harry said. "You're both older than me which means you must already have yours, huh? So what do yours say?" 

Ron groaned next to him. "I don't want to talk about it. It's kind of violent." 

Harry and Hermione both went silent before Hermione tentatively said, "That's okay, Ron. You don't have to share." 

"Oh, well, now--" Ron groaned again. "Now it seems like it's some graphic description of torture or something. It's not. It's really not that bad. It's just--" He pulled his sleeve down and showed them. "Political assassination." Ron turned his wrist back to face him and look at it for a moment, frown on his face. "It's just weird to talk about because even though I don't know who my soulmate is, I just feel so connected to them already and it kills me to think that I wasn't there or I didn't do something, you know? Like if my soulmate was assassinated, where was I?" 

A small laugh escaped Hermione and both of her friends turned to her, shocked and offended. 

"No, no, no!" Hermione rushed out. "I wasn't laughing at you, Ron. It's just--" She stopped herself and blushed. "I think you did try to do something. Of course you wouldn't just leave your soulmate to die. You would do anything. In fact, you would..." Hermione pulled up her sleeve. "Maybe die trying?" 

Ron leaned forward to read on Hermione's wrist "Trying to Stop Your Assassination." 

Carefully, Ron took Hermione's wrist in his hands and looked at it for a few moments. "I can't believe it," he said before dropping her arm and sitting back against the wall. "I fail. I'm going to try to save you and I'm going to fail." 

"Oh, no, Ron," Hermione comforted. 

Getting more uncomfortable by the second, Harry stood and slipped out of the compartment just as Hermione moved to sit next to Ron, an arm coming around his shoulders. 

Quickly, Harry opened the door across the way and closed it behind him. 

"Can we help you, Potter?" 

Harry's eyes snapped open at the sound of Blaise Zabini's voice as he found himself in a train compartment with him as well as Malfoy, Parkinson, and Nott. The three had clearly all been crowded around Malfoy who was specifically turning himself towards the window, as away from Harry as he could without looking obvious. But even from the angle, Harry could tell that Malfoy's face was blotchy and red from crying. He had clearly interrupted something and the three other Slytherins looked highly protective of Malfoy at this moment. 

"I am so sorry," Harry rushed out. "Apparently my best friends are soulmates and things got really awkward for me so I jumped into the closest compartment and I didn't even look and I'm so so sorry." 

"Are you shitting me?" Malfoy turned and spoke to Parkinson who was sitting next to him, Harry clearly being ignored. "The fucking weasel gets the likely future Minister of Magic and I'm stuck with this shit?" 

It was then that Malfoy seemed to register Harry's presence. "What are you still doing here?" He yelled. "Get the fuck out, Potter!" 

The compartment rattled as Potter jumped outside and left them alone. 

Draco turned back to his friends and sighed, burying his head in his hands. "What am I supposed to do?" 

"Hey," Theo comforted. "It doesn't mean anything serious, you know? You two could still meet and fall in love and have a happy life together until the point where your soulmate dies." 

Lifting his head, Draco looked at Theo with dead eyes before pulling up his right sleeve and looking for a moment at the two words written there. The only two needed to break his heart. 

"Sorry, Theo, but I've never heard of someone having a happy, healthy, care-free life with their soulmate and then, at old age, dying a martyr." 

Silence settled in the compartment as Draco stared down at those two simple words: "A Martyr." 

How could he comprehend what his soulmate would go through? There was no telling. In fact, his soulmate could already be dead. There was a high chance they would never even meet. It would just be Draco, alone, forever. Which was, probably, as it should be with the way his life was going. 

"After everything that happened this summer, I now have to deal with this?" Draco whispered under his breath before looking back up at his friends. "I mean, if someone cares about something so much to die a martyr for their beliefs, of course they're prioritizing those beliefs over their soulmate. There's nothing I can do. I'll just be alone. But there's my start to the year. What do all of yours say?" 

Blaise was the first to jump at the chance to share his. "Car crash. So I'd say there's a possibility my soulmate's muggle. I just hope that, whoever it is, if they have a soul mark theirs also says car crash because I want us to die together." 

"Well, my wife is going to die of ovarian cancer," Pansy said. "Which, I mean, if I ever had my doubts about being a lesbian, I sure don't now. I have confirmation my soulmate is a woman if she's dying of ovarian cancer." 

"Hey," Theo stopped her. "What about--" 

Pansy waved her hand at him. "Yes, I know trans men exist and everything. I get it. But I'm a lesbian. So lesbian plus a soulmate with ovaries means my soulmate is a lesbian, yes?" 

"Okay, yes," Theo relented. "I was just making sure we were being inclusive here." 

Blaise nodded next to him. "I agree. I'd fuck a trans man." 

Theo narrowed his eyes at Blaise. "Wow. You're just so progressive," he said, sarcastically. "Because that's exactly what trans people are striving for: being fucked by Blaise Zabini." 

Draco buried his head in his hands again. "There are more important things going on here right now than you two arguing over this." 

"C'mon, Draco," Blaise said. "You know I was just joking to make you feel better." 

"Yeah, love," Pansy said, a comforting hand on Draco's shoulder. "We all know Blaise is just talk and that he's actually the second-biggest virgin among us. The first being you, of course." 

Draco held up his arm. "And likely to remain one the rest of my life because this stupid fucker has to go and die." 

"Okay," Blaise chided. "What is with the language? You're usually not like this." 

"Yeah," Theo added. "I remember a very prim Draco Malfoy who used to blush at those kinds of swears."

"So much has happened that I figured why do I even care about all the things I have always cared about? You have no idea how my summer has gone."

Blaise leaned forward. "Then tell us, Draco." 

He shook his head. "I can't." 

"Of course you can," he countered. "We're your best friends. There isn't a thing you can't tell us." 

Again, he shook his head, more firm this time. "Not this." 

"Draco," Pansy began again, her hand once more finding its way to his shoulder. She was always so physical with her comfort and usually Draco welcomed it, but right now it was just making his skin crawl. 

He stood up. He couldn't take it anymore. 

"I'm going to go now. Please don't follow me." 

His friends started to protest as Draco opened the door and walked out, but they didn't follow him, as asked. 

Draco went down the hallway, looking for an empty compartment and made it all the way to the end before he spotted an empty seat. He opened the door and collapsed, his eyes closed. 

For a moment, he just tried to breathe, get everything under control. He wished he could tell his friends about all the terrible things that had happened this summer: what a cruciatus curse felt like, the way his house went from large and dark to cold, ominous, and dangerous. The way that he was all alone. Waiting for his soul mark to show up was one of the few things that Draco had held on to. It was a confirmation of someone out there, someone who would love him unconditionally. Even if he did what he had been asked to do this year. Surely this martyr would have loved him. 

"Uh, not sure if you're aware..." Draco opened his eyes at the sound of a voice. "But this compartment isn't empty." 

He raised his eyebrows at Harry Potter. "Yes, I'm not stupid, thank you. But this is the closest thing to empty that this train has to offer right now and if you'll stop talking I would much rather sit here and ignore you than sit with my pestering friends. Thank you." 

Once more, Draco closed his eyes and leant back. 

"Rough summer?" Harry asked. 

Draco didn't move. "What did I just say, Potter?" 

"My summer didn't go too well, either, but I do have to say it wasn't my worst ever. My worst summer would be a contest, though. There was almost getting expelled last year, there was the whole thing where I got in trouble for using magic when it wasn't actually me but Dobby. And of course there was this summer which started with losing my godfather. But how could I forget the summer that started with Cedric's death and the return of Voldemort so if--" 

Harry stopped abruptly and Draco opened his eyes. "What, Potter? Really, tell me, because I want to know what could possibly make you shut up. It would be useful knowledge to have." 

"That summer, when he came back..." Harry glanced to the side, unsure. "We both know your dad was there." 

"This again," Draco muttered, suddenly far less interested in the conversation. 

"Malfoy, if something happened this summer....I saw the way you flinched when I said his name. If he--" 

"What?" Draco asked, voice sharp. "If he what, Potter? You'll what? If something happened, what could you possibly do about it? And why would you want to? And if it's already happened, how could it possibly help?" 

He stopped, letting the tension seep between them until Potter looked away from him, clearly guilty. 

"Now, if you would kindly, I would just like to fucking sit here in the damn quiet for the rest of the way. If you can't handle that, you can go back to your Gryffindors." He turned and looked out the window. 

Breathing heavily, he waited until Harry stood. Then he heard the door slide open and he turned back, starting to relax. But Harry wasn't quite gone. 

"You know," Harry started. "If something did happen...There are ways we can help. You must know by now I'm not alone. And if something happened, then I would want you to know I will either kill him or I will die trying." With that, Harry closed the compartment door and left Draco sitting there, alone. 

For a moment, Harry's words echoed in Draco's head, but their meaning trailed behind him. Then, he understood. 

Harry would die trying. 

Draco looked down at his right arm and knew that Harry spoke more truth than he had intended when he said those words. He looked at the words on his arm and knew that was exactly it: 

Harry James Potter would die trying to defeat Voldemort. And, successful or not, that would leave him a martyr. 

Burying his face in his hands, Draco began to sob. 

__________

After Harry closed the compartment door, he paused for a moment, trying to not reenter. Just because Malfoy had been so uptight didn't mean Harry's instincts were off: something was wrong. Malfoy was in trouble and he needed help. How could Harry just let him sit there alone and suffer? 

But he had been asked to leave. 

Harry was about to do just that when he heard the sounds of crying through the door. And it wasn't light tears, either. No, this was the sound of heartbreak. 

His hand paused on the door handle. He knew he wasn't wanted inside and that Malfoy would likely be upset if Harry opened the door to see him crying, but he wasn't sure if he could tear himself away. It just didn't seem right to leave him like that, even if he was Malfoy. 

He let his hand drop. He should respect Malfoy's wishes. And right now, that meant to leave. 

__________

Draco sat holding his arms to his chest--the two bad omens that proved his life was not worth living--for the rest of the train ride. 

__________

As soon as they arrived at Hogwarts, Draco slipped through the crowds and went directly to the dormitory. He couldn't stand to be around people right now. And, he quickly found out, that feeling did not fade in an hour, a day, a week. And here he was, now, halfway into sixth year and he still just wanted to be alone. 

"Draco," Pansy said, softly, one night in the common room. "Do you want to do some homework tonight together? It can be just the two of us, if you want." 

Doodling on his parchment that was meant to be for his arithmancy essay, Draco didn't look up as he answered her. "I just kind of want to be alone right now, thanks." 

"Darling," she continued, still speaking softly from where she had just sat down across from him. "You've just kind of wanted to be alone for the entire year so far. We just all want you to know that we're here for you. You can talk to us about anything." 

"Not this," was all Draco said, still staring at his doodle. 

Pansy placed a hand on top of his so that he looked up at her. "Anything, love." 

For a beat, Draco held her eyes. "Not this." 

It was then that he noticed that Blaise and Theo were standing on the side of him, just a bit back so that he hadn't seen them before. Blaise sat down beside him and started talking. 

"To be honest, we're worried about you, Draco. We don't know what happened this summer, but we know something must have. And my personal theory was that through all the shit you were holding out hope for a soulmate. A lifelong partner who would love you no matter what. And when you woke up and saw what was written there, your hope fell away. But your soulmate is not the only person you have. There's always us. And we're going to be right next to you through everything." 

"Even if you don't want to tell us what's going on," Theo added. "You don't have to say anything. Just stop locking yourself up in the room, start eating dinner in the hall instead of sneaking down to the kitchens when you realize you're about to pass out because you haven't eaten in three days. Get on a broom, maybe." 

"We know," Pansy continued for Theo. "That these things aren't going to fix the way that you're feeling. But they really do help. And the more you shut yourself away, the worse it's going to get. I know you want to be alone right now and that you don't like being vulnerable, but Draco we're so worried." 

"Again," Blaise added. "You don't have to tell us what happened or what you're going through. We're here if you want that, but all we want is for you to let us sit here with you and do some homework. How does that sound?" 

For the first time in months, Draco began to feel something outside of deep, pure sadness. And his love for his friends only made him even sadder. They were so good to him and he was going to betray them all with how evil he was becoming. He had been keeping to himself to not hurt them--and also because he felt like he deserved it as punishment. 

He sniffed and tried to not cry as he gave his friends a small nod. 

"Okay," Blaise said, putting a hand on Draco's shoulder. "How about that potions essay, huh? A little fourth year, don't you think? Slughorn is much easier to deal with than Snape." 

Draco laughed a little, knowing that was what Blaise had intended. He missed his friends. And he wanted to tell them everything, but how could he put that sort of thing on them? 

His friends all sat down around him, pulling out their own parchments and quills and setting down to work. 

Slowly, over the course of the rest of the week, they began working Draco back into his normal routines. He ate in the Great Hall at least once a day, he had at least one conversation with each of his friends, and he wasn't constantly alone. It was like they had a system for it to try and make him feel better. And not once did they ask him what was wrong. That was, not until the end of the week. 

It was late at night and the common room had mostly cleared out when Blaise reached across the table and closed Draco's ancient runes textbook that was right in front of him. Draco looked up. 

"How are you doing?" 

Draco's jaw tensed. "I thought we didn't have to talk about it." 

"We don't," Pansy added, sitting next to Draco. "But why don't you try telling us why you think you can't talk about it? Give us a valid reason and we'll stop pestering you. Because there is nothing we would judge you for. There is nothing that would make us abandon you as friends. Nothing is going to change." 

"We promise," Theo said. 

For a moment, Draco chewed his bottom lip. Keeping all of this to himself was absolute torture; it was tearing him apart, breaking him down. He was barely functioning from the stress of the secrets. 

"I can't burden you with this," he said. "It's not something you need to know." 

Almost simultaneously, all three of his friends put their hands on his arms, hands, shoulders. This only reminded Draco how well they knew him, understanding how reassured he was by physical contact. 

"It's not a burden you should have to bear alone," Theo said. "Whatever it is." 

"And we are making a  _ choice _ to share whatever burden it is with you," Blaise said. "You're not forcing it on us. We ask willingly." 

One by one, Draco looked into the eyes of his best friends and he knew how much they were telling the truth. And it was all too much: he couldn't hold it in any longer. 

He looked down at the closed cover of his textbook and stood. "Tomorrow morning skip your first class and meet me in the Room of Hidden Things. Go separately. Don't let anyone follow you." 

With that, Draco walked away, looking to any outsider like he had isolated himself from his friends yet again. This wasn't a secret to be taken lightly. 

__________

The next morning, Draco skipped breakfast and went right to the Room of Hidden Things. He would wait there for his friends so even if they were followed, it was less likely that he was also seen entering the same room as them. 

A few hours later, Blaise walked through the door, the first of his friends to show up. 

"I left breakfast early. I wasn't followed," he said. "Theo is going to come just as breakfast ends and Pansy is going to walk to her first class and get excused at the beginning to see Pomfrey." 

Draco nodded. "Sounds good. Thank you." 

Blaise took a seat next to Draco on the sofa he was sitting on. "Why do we have to be so secretive about this?" 

At first, Draco wasn't going to answer his question. But then he remembered that he was going to tell them everything anyway and his friends may as well know how dangerous this information was before they heard it all. 

"There are people watching," he said. "I don't know who so I can't figure out how to get around them. And I'm not supposed to tell anyone. It could put us both in great danger." 

Blaise just nodded, sensing that Draco would explain more once Theo and Pansy arrived. So the two sat in silence until the door opened again. 

Theo shut the door behind him quickly. "Only one person saw me coming this way. A prefect. Seventh year." 

"Which one?" Draco asked. If it was Slytherin, they could be in trouble. 

"Gryffindor." 

Draco breathed a sigh of relief. No way was a Gryffindor being recruited as a spy. 

"Okay," Draco said. "Then we're probably safe. Now we just wait for Pansy." 

Theo took a seat at an armchair across from Blaise and the waiting began once more. 

The three sat in silence for long minutes, hoping Pansy's excuse to leave class would be enough. But the door opened once more and their suspicions were relieved. 

"How did you get out of charms?" Theo asked. 

Pansy shrugged one shoulder. "I just told Flitwick I was having lady problems. It makes all male teachers super weird and can get you out of a lot of stuff." She sat down next to Theo. "So," She said to Draco. "Want to tell us what all of this is about?" 

Draco took a deep breath. "First, I'm giving you one last time to back out. Just walk out that door. This is incredibly dangerous. There are people watching. Everywhere. The kind of people that if you cross them, you die. Leave now and the chances of anything bad happening to you are slim." 

He finished talking and waited, expecting at least one of his friends to leave. One of them had to, although he didn't know which one would. 

Theo raised an eyebrow at him. "You think any of us are going to take that? Slytherins may be about self-preservation, but the Hufflepuffs aren't the only loyal house." 

"Yeah, sorry, Draco," Blaise said. "But you're stuck with us. Now spill." 

Taking another deep breath, Draco tried to calm his nerves. Then, he pulled his right sleeve up to his elbow. 

"We've already seen your soulmark." 

"That's not all," Draco said. He had just been summoning up the strength to continue. 

Not looking up at his friends, he pulled up his other sleeve, turning his head as he did so. He couldn't bear to look at the thing. In doing so, he wasn't able to see the reactions of his friends' faces, but he could feel the silence in the room. 

His eyes were pulled back when he felt Blaise's hand on his left forearm, just on top of where the mark was. "Draco," he said softly. 

He turned back to his friends. Their faces were sad, but not afraid, not pitied. 

"That doesn't matter to us," Blaise said, pulling Draco's arm down so he was no longer holding it up. "It doesn't change the way we feel about you." 

"We love you no matter what," Pansy said. "That kind of thing doesn't matter to us. And, besides, we know better. We know you. You didn't run to join them. You were forced." 

Theo nodded slowly. "That's why you've been so depressed. This summer was traumatic for you because you were forced to join." 

Unable to speak, unable to tell his friends how right they were, Draco just burst into tears, leaning in towards Blaise's shoulder. Soon all his friends were crowded around him, saying encouraging things, brushing his hair back, holding his hands. 

Eventually, Draco got his sobbing under control and wiped a hand across his face. "There's more," he said, voice still shaky from his sobs. 

Pansy's face leveled into a line. "What did they ask you to do?" 

"Kill Dumbledore." 

"What?" All three of his friends said, in unison. 

"Are they fucking crazy?" Pansy yelled.

"You're sixteen! The Dark Lord himself is afraid of Dumbledore. And he's going to send a  _ sixteen year old _ to do his dirty work?" Theo ran a hand through his hair, astonished, as he spoke. 

Draco glanced at an unusually quiet Blaise. When he noticed he was being watched, Blaise flexed his jaw again and took a small breath. "You know, I always thought I never understood Gryffindors with all their righteousness. But never have I wanted to rip someone's heart out so much. We may be sixteen, but we are still  _ children. _ What kind of coward--" Blaise broke off and stood, pacing. 

"What kind of  _ coward, _ " Blaise began to yell. "Sends a sixteen year old to do the thing that he could never do for years? A wizard apparently so powerful that we're all too afraid to say his name and he's making a sixteen year old do the most complicated thing in his plan? Arguably the most important thing?" 

"You all really believe that?" Draco asked. "Don't you see? At no point was I expected to actually succeed. He gave me the assignment knowing that I will fail so he has an excuse to punish me and my family. We're not exactly in good standing with the Dark Lord right now. But there's more." 

Blaise whipped around. "More?" 

Draco looked back down at his arms. He flinched when he saw the mark on his left arm, but then his eyes transferred over to the soul mark on his right. Then, he cautiously met the eyes of his friends. 

"I know who my soulmate is." 

"Draco!" Theo exclaimed. "That's great!" 

At Theo's enthusiasm, Draco's bottom lip began to wobble like a child and he knew he was going to cry again. 

"Or? Not?" Theo asked, confused. 

"Um," Draco began, looking back down at those words. "Well, I know who it is. Uh, but he doesn't. I didn't tell him. I don't know how I could tell him and if I did, he wouldn't believe me. There's nothing I could say to convince him. And why would he want to be convinced? He doesn't want me and even if he did, he wouldn't want to resign himself to the fact that he dies a martyr. I'm sure he has no problem with the martyr part but probably the dying-soon part would be a bit of a downer." 

Blaise sat down in front of Draco. "Well then, how do you know for sure?" 

"It was something he said. He said the Dark Lord's name and saw how I flinched and he asked me if something had happened and when I didn't answer, he told me that if something had happened he would want me to know that he would kill the Dark Lord or die trying. And the was when I knew: he is going to die trying." 

Barely able to hold back his cries now, Draco looked at his friends, desperate. "And, according to the prophecy, Harry's the only one that can defeat the Dark Lord and if he's going to die in the attempt, then that means that the Dark Lord is going to win. He's going to kill Harry and he is going to win." 

The last of his strength gone, Draco collapsed once more into the arms of his friends, weeping, mourning Harry's life, his own, the lives of his friends, the entire world as he knew it. 

__________

Draco was despondent. And as his best friend, Pansy Parkinson had taken it upon herself to do something. She didn't like the idea of the Dark Lord winning at all, which meant she would have to begrudgingly align herself with Potter. The key was to just save as many lives as possible. And that meant she would have to do some things she wouldn't like. 

The morning after their meeting in the Room of Hidden Things, Pansy was standing in the shadows in a corridor that led to the library. She figured this would be the best chance that she would have for this. But for now she would just wait. Shouldn't be long because any minute now--

There. She spotted her target rounding the corner. 

"Psst. Granger," She said from the shadows. 

Granger took a glance around her, looking for the source of the whispering. Pansy took a step into the light for a moment and beckoned the girl over, looking both ways as she did so. 

"Parkinson?" Granger asked, but she still stepped closer. 

"Look, you're good at researching things, right?" 

Granger looked confused. "Well, yes, but--" 

"Good. I need you to figure something out for me." Pansy continued to look through the hallways around them for any sign of another person. 

"Wait, you want my help? Why? And why would I help you?" 

Now, Pansy looked at Granger. "I know we've had our differences but I don't hate you for anything other than the fact that you're likely to be head girl. That pisses me off. But it's useful right now. And, right now, you and I are on the same side. We have common interests, common goals. So will you do it?" 

Granger set her mouth in a line. "Depends. What do you want me to do? And I better get a good explanation so I know you're not using it for some terrible purpose or to--" 

"I need you to do some research on soul marks. Find out if there have been any confirmed cases of a soul mark not coming true. Like, not actually predicting the way a person's soulmate died. Or any records of a soul mark ever changing." 

Granger raised an eyebrow. "What do you want to know all of that for? I'd imagine it's not going to come up with anything. If someone thinks a person is their soulmate and they die in a different way, they would probably assume that they had been wrong all along. There are very few confirmed cases." 

Pansy gave her a sharp glare and Granger widened her eyes, stubborn. "I didn't say I wouldn't look into it; I was just telling you what to expect. Don't get your hopes up. And you never answered my question: why do you want to know about this?" 

Again, Pansy glanced around them before pulling Granger into the shadows. 

"It's about the war," She whispered. "You can't tell anyone this. But a group of us are acting on behalf of someone else. You see, we have reason to believe that we may have found Potter's soulmate. But, of course, you can't tell him that. The problem is if we're right, then we have a major problem because the soul mark sort of...implies that Harry is going to lose. And if he's the only one who can take down the Dark Lord, according to the prophesy, then we're all a little screwed, don't you think?" 

For a moment, Granger was silent. Then, she took a small step back from Pansy. "One condition: you have to tell me what the soul mark says." 

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Fine. It says 'a martyr.'"

Hermione considered it for a moment before making her decision. "Okay," she said. "I'll look into it. I don't expect much, but that's a good enough reason to do the research anyway. I'll get back to you in a few days." 

Pansy nodded. "Thank you," she said, not liking that she was saying it. "I'll come and find you. Let me worry about that part. You just focus on doing what you're good at." 

Granger smiled. "Well, thank you, Parkinson. I know it must be difficult to pay me a compliment after all that's happened between--" She stopped talking, noticing that Pansy was walking away. 

__________

Two weeks later, Pansy was ready to approach Granger and see if she had found anything in her research, but there didn't seem to be a moment that she was by herself. 

Pansy was sitting in the library, dutifully studying with her friends, but also sneaking sly glances three tables down where Granger was sitting with Potter and the Weasel, also studying. It was beginning to look like there was never going to be a time when Granger was without the two unless Pansy broke into the Gryffindor tower in the middle of the night. And it wasn't like she could just walk over there and--

She stopped. If she had let Granger be in control of this, they would have already talked by now. Because Granger was a Gryffindor and she would have just walked over. But Pansy was sitting and waiting for the opportune moment. Which was perfect, and flawless, and definitely the way that you had to play things when you were trying to avoid spies in the middle of a war. It was the safer option.

The only problem with it was that it took far longer and Potter could die any day now. So they had to get to work. 

In other words, she was going to have to forego subtlety, against her own will. 

Pansy stood up, not saying a word to her friends, and walked directly over to Granger's table. 

She put her hands down on the table top and leaned forward, ignoring Weasley's indignation at her presence. "Do you have anything?" 

After a quick glance at her friends, Granger must have figured that if Pansy was asking in front of them, she would be fine with an answer in front of them, and she pulled some books from the stack next to her. 

"Well, information on soul marks that is actually confirmed is incredibly difficult to find. Anyone who does research on it typically dedicates their entire life for one or two accounts." She began flipping through a book and Weasley and Potter went quiet, trying to figure out what was going on. "But, when you put all of those lives' work together, you have a handful of what is believed to be confirmed cases of soulmates. However, even most of these still have some debate among experts about how confirmed their status is.

"One of the main things used to confirm a soulmate match is if the deaths of both soulmates align with both soul marks. Which is exactly why your question about any discrepancies makes it all the more difficult to answer. So, I started looking in to cases that the community of experts have written off for that reason, but that conspiracy theorists or those who think soul marks aren't true, typically refer to." 

"And what did you find?" Pansy asked, hoping Granger would get on with it already. 

Granger turned the book towards Pansy so she could read the page. By this time, her friends had followed over from their table and were crowding around behind her. 

When Draco saw that the book was on soul marks and soulmates, he muttered quietly, "Pans, what did you do?" 

Granger continued talking. "This case is one of the most compelling that I have found. This woman lived her entire life with this man and they were certain that they were soulmates. His soul mark depicted an incredibly specific way of dying--a snakebite from a specific rare snake native to the central americas, while they lived in France. And that was how she died. When he was widowed, he and everyone that they knew took this as confirmation of their being soulmates. I mean, it was so specific and so unlikely.

"Her soul mark, however, said that her soulmate would die in a house fire. Now, there was a house fire and he was present at the time. He was badly burned, but he make it out of the house alive. He didn't die until three weeks later. There was a lot of controversy then over whether or not the two were soulmates. Most everyone who knew them sided that they were and that his death still met the criteria of her soul mark because he died as a result of the wounds from the fire. But that's not quite true because the soul mark specified it was  _ in _ the fire that her soulmate was to die. Hence, the controversy." 

Granger finished and sat back, impressed with herself. 

Pansy looked up, much less impressed. "You said this was a compelling case? It's three hundred years old!" 

"Exactly!" Granger countered. "So what was the chance of that snake being all the way in France? And, it's the best I can give you. Most of the time, if the soul mark doesn't match up with the death, they're considered not soul mates. We have no other way of telling if two people are or are not, so the mark is all we go off of. You can't be upset when I told you this was likely to happen. It's an almost impossible question." 

For a moment, each were silent with their own thoughts before Weasley spoke up. 

"Why did you need to know about soul marks so bad that you came my girlfriend?" 

"Yeah, Pansy," Draco said, voice clipped. "For once, I agree with the Weasel." 

Blaise sensed what was happening between his friends and in an effort to keep them from revealing too much, he diverted the truth a bit, "Pansy, we were all entrusted certain information and none of the three of them were. We were supposed to keep it between the four of us." It wasn't a lie, per se, because Draco had entrusted it to them and it was supposed to stay between the four of them. He had just made it sound like it was from an outside source, rather than possibly one of them. 

"I'm with Pansy," Theo said, officially dividing the group. "Our time for answers may be running out. We don't know. And if anyone could find information on something like this, it would be Granger. This is too important to care about petty house rivalries or anything like that." 

Potter raised an eyebrow, clearly curious, but said nothing. 

"So," Weasley said. "Are you going to tell us what this is about?" 

The four exchanged a few glances and Draco leaned forward. "Not here. It's too public. Meet us in the back of the library after curfew." Then, he threw a hex at Potter. 

Potter jumped and shot him a nasty look. "What was that for?" 

"It's called making things look normal to any passerby,  _ Potter. _ " 

With that, the four returned to their studying at their table. 

As soon as they sat down, Draco began talking to Pansy through gritted teeth. "What the hell, Pansy? What did you tell her? Did you mention me? Did you mention Potter?" 

"I had to mention Potter. It got her to help me. But I left you completely out of it. Look, I just want to know how accurate a soul mark's prediction is. If there is any way you could still be his soulmate and him not die a martyr, then we don't have to worry nearly as much, do we?" 

"Yeah," Blaise said. "But we have no way of knowing for certain that Potter is Draco's soulmate." 

Draco glared at him. "I  _ know. _ There is no doubt anywhere in me. Trust me, it's him. It's always been him."

Blaise laid a hand on top of Draco's. "Darling, just because you've been in love with him for years doesn't mean you two are soulmates. It could be clouding your vision. You know? Wishful thinking?" 

Clearly upset, Draco shook his head out from beneath Blaise's. "How dare you?" was all he said. 

"Okay, enough," Theo interrupted. "What are we telling them later tonight?" 

"Whatever it is, we can't reveal that I'm Potter's soulmate. It could ruin everything." 

Pansy held out a hand to stop them all. "I don't know what you three are worrying about. I have this all under control. We'll say what I told Granger: we're acting on behalf of someone we think is Potter's soulmate and the soul mark indicates that Potter is going to die while trying to fight the Dark Lord. We don't need to plan this all out. I've got this," she assured them. 

Later that night, however, her three friends were all sending her intermittent glares because that was absolutely not enough information for Potter and Weasley. 

"Hold on, hold on," Potter said. "Before we get into all these other questions, can we focus on something really important here? Who do you think is my soulmate?" 

Blaise scoffed. "We can't tell you that, Potter. Why do you think it's not them approaching you about this? Figuring out who your soulmate is is something you have to do for yourself." 

"Well, how can we be sure that this person is my soulmate? What evidence is there? Just because they're attracted to me and they think their soul mark could fit? I mean, what does it even say?" 

Blaise, Pansy, Theo, and Draco all exchanged looks. If they told him and he happened to see it on Draco.... 

Draco stepped forward. "This person's soul mark says that their soulmate dies a martyr. Who else can you think of that would fit that description?" 

For a moment, Potter sputtered. "I don't know, okay? But we're all only teenagers. A lot can happen in a life that someone might die a martyr for, you know?" 

"You say that like it's a common occurrence," Blaise said. 

"Back to the matter at hand," Pansy said, steering the conversation onto safer grounds. "We're trying to figure out as much as we can about soul marks. Before we get too deep into this, we should know the chances of it coming true." 

"Look," Potter ran a hand through his hair. "As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't even matter. Voldemort could make his move any day now. His forces are getting stronger,  _ he _ is getting stronger. One of these days, he is going to attack me. It's his only logical move. And if that happens sooner, rather than later, I'll tell you now that I'm not prepared. And, currently, the chances of me dying seem pretty high. So someone who thinks they might be my soulmate 'figuring out' that I'm going to die doesn't surprise me. All it does is make me want to meet my soulmate before that happens." 

"Harry," Ron said, softly, from next to his friend. 

"I'm just saying, losing wouldn't surprise me. He's one of the strongest wizards of all time and he has the most loyal followers. I mean, I watched one cut off an entire hand to bring him back to life. And all of his followers are really strong witches and wizards and they're influential and the damn Ministry refuses to even believe that he's back! And what do I have? I'm just a sixteen year old with a scar!" 

Draco rolled his eyes. "You're not just a sixteen year old. You're the Boy Who Lived. You're the bloody Chosen One. You're the fourteen year old kid who dueled the Dark Lord and made it out alive. And the only reason you think you're alone is because you want it that way. You want to be alone because that means that no one else will be in any danger. But it's too late for that, Potter. Far too late. Many have already lost their lives, you know that. If we can get any sort of confirmation that this soul mark is likely to come true, it can be a way to try and stop it. To change fate. You wanted to know what the research is about, and now you do." 

Finished, Draco was about to walk away, but Potter wasn't done. 

"Look, Malfoy. I appreciate you're trying to, help or whatever. But this doesn't change anything for me. I don't think that changing fate can be done. And since you won't even tell me who my soul mate is--" 

Having had enough, Draco yanked up his right sleeve and turned it to face Harry. "It's me. You said to me on the train that you wanted me to know the you were going to kill him or die trying. You know, in case something had happened this summer. Well, something did." Draco pulled up his other sleeve and showed him that as well. 

"Oh, fuck!" Potter jumped at the sight of the Dark Mark. "I was right! I was fucking right!" He pointed at his friends. "What did I fucking tell you? I told you 'Malfoy's being shady' and you both were all like 'no, no, I don't think, I mean, you're just projecting' but turns out I was right!" 

"Potter, pay attention," Draco said, sharply. "He wants me to kill Dumbledore." 

Of course, that shut Potter up. He stopped talking and just stood there, mouth hanging slightly open. "Are you going to do it?" 

Draco stared at him, incredulous. "I don't fucking know! I don't want to but if I don't, the Dark Lord will kill me and my family." 

Stunned, Potter shook his head slowly. "The way I see it, you're going to make your decision and things are just going to play out whether I had known or not, right? I guess all that's left to happen next is for you to make your choice. Knowing this isn't going to change anything." His eyes fixed on the point on Draco's arm where the soul mark was. "If that mark is right, then it's right. And if it's wrong, we'll know when Voldemort's dead. Until then, there's nothing you can do, Malfoy, except make your decision." 

Still shaking his head, Potter turned and began to walk away and his friends started to follow him. They just left Draco standing there, heart in his hands. 

"Draco," Pansy said. "Why did you do that?" 

She was right. He never should have said anything. About any of it. None of them should have gotten involved. He had to undo it. 

Draco reached for his wand. It was the only way he knew how. 

" _ Obliviate, _ " he said, aiming for Potter. Then he moved his wand a little to the right. " _ Obliviate, obliviate. _ " And just like that, neither Potter nor his friends would ever remember that conversation. 

Then, Draco slumped back into the arms of his friends. 

__________

_ One Year Later _

As it turned out, Draco's obliviate hadn't removed the conversation from earlier that day, in the library. The four Slytherins had made up a story about how the Gryffindors had been ambushed on their way to meet them and decided to back out entirely. It was likely that Granger had told the other two what she knew from her earlier conversation with Pansy, but they didn't have to worry about it too much. None of the three were exactly tracking the Slytherins down for more information. 

So everything had transpired as Draco supposed it should have in the first place. He wasn't able to kill Dumbledore, but he let the Death Eaters into the school. Dumbledore still died. Snape killed him and told the Dark Lord otherwise. Harry had attacked him in the bathroom, leaving Draco with scars all along his chest. Snape was in control of the school and Potter was nowhere to be found. That was, not counting when he had shown up at the Manor and Draco had refused to identify his soulmate. He may have stood idly by to watch Dumbledore die, but he wasn't going to take any role in the death of his soulmate. Not Potter. Never Potter. 

Since then, no one had heard anything about Potter. The Death Eaters had no leads. And they weren't likely to. 

Draco sat in the Slytherin common room, on a sofa between his three friends. None were speaking. There was nothing to do or say. Both sides of the war were hanging in limbo, awaiting Potter's arrival. Just as Draco was lying his head on Blaise's shoulder, however, that all changed. 

The four sprang up and into the hallways. It wasn't long before, running down the corridor, they were able to catch someone--a Ravenclaw fourth year--who was able to tell them what was going on. 

"We have to evacuate. The Order's broken into the school and the Death Eaters are fighting back. Get out!" 

Draco couldn't keep track of where all he ran during the battle. He remembered the horrific Fiend Fyre and Harry's hand pulling him onto the back of his broom. 

With his face pressed into Potter's back was the first time he had felt grounded in years. 

But as quickly as Potter had pulled him up, he was off again. And as Draco held his breath, the Dark Lord made his announcement giving them one hour to give up Harry Potter before he would destroy the school. 

During this hour, Draco slipped out of the Great Hall amidst the confusion and found himself in the astronomy tower. 

He sat down on the edge and looked out across the battlefield. 

Wanting to deny that everything he had predicted was going to come true, Draco looked away and found himself staring right at the spot he knew his soul mark was, hidden underneath his sleeve. Carefully, he pulled up the fabric and looked at those two words. 

A Martyr. 

It was all going to come true. Potter had refused to believe him, refused to acknowledge that it could change anything and now--

As Draco stared, the mark slowly faded. 

Frantic, Draco looked back out across the battlefield. Did that mean that Harry was dead? 

Standing up so fast he almost fell off the tower, Draco ran in a full sprint downstairs, tears flying behind him. How could he have let this happen? He should have done more to stop it, he should have tried everything he could have to--

He burst out the doors to where there was a crowd forming on the lawn. And there, in front of them all, was the Dark Lord. 

Next to him was Hagrid and in the man's large arms was a limp and lifeless Harry Potter. 

Draco's vision went white and his knees buckled. He couldn't feel the grass beneath his hands, couldn't hear what Neville was saying even though he knew he was talking. 

When he saw the soul mark appear, he had considered that it would come true. But he thought it meant he would never meet his soulmate. And when he had figured out it was Harry, he had had nightmares about the man being found dead. But never in any of them had Draco understood the way all of his breath had left him when he saw Harry's dangling hand. 

Raising up, Draco felt a hand at his side and there was Pansy, lifting him up. His best friend in all the world, supporting him through every moment. And as he stared out through the crowd, he saw what she was pulling on his arm for him to see. 

It was Harry. Alive. 

Alive and defeating the Dark Lord. 

Draco felt like he could fly. 

__________

Three hours had passed since the return of Harry Potter and the death of the Dark Lord. Draco had spent the majority of those hours alone, sitting on the floor in a small alcove that he had found on the fourth floor. 

He didn't know what it all meant in terms of his being soulmates with Harry. And, as a result, he had refused to look at his right arm again. He didn't want to know. 

In the end, it was probably good that he had erased Potter's memory. Didn't want him to think that Draco was crazy in love with him enough to think that he was Potter's soulmate. It was ridiculous. And probably, like Blaise had said, wishful thinking. 

Instead, he was spending this time staring at the skull and snake marring his other arm. A mark he had chosen to take. While it would be true if someone said that Draco really didn't have much of a choice, being threatened if he hadn't taken it, Draco would forever know in his heart that he could have chosen to die instead. Maybe things would have gone differently then. But, no. Like a coward, Draco had taken the easy way out and he was going to have to live with the consequences for the rest of his life. And that meant forever being haunted by this mark on his skin. 

Not to mention a likely stay in Azkaban and the hatred of the wizarding world at large. 

Sighing, Draco laid his head back against the stone and closed his eyes. The war was over. And although he would face the repercussions of it soon, couldn't he just have one moment to enjoy that it was all over? 

Footsteps interrupted his thoughts. Of course not. Of course he couldn't even have that one precious moment. 

Draco stood up, pressing himself back into the alcove. He wasn't expecting whoever might find him to be too friendly about it, considering.

Someone ran past the alcove and then the quick footsteps stopped. Draco held his breath, reaching for his wand as they started back towards him. But when the figure stepped into the light it was Potter and Draco released his wand. 

Without a word, Potter walked right up to Draco and took his right hand in his. With his other hand, he pushed up Draco's sleeve and looked at his soul mark. 

Then, slowly, his face and shoulders fell and he took a step back. 

"I--I'm sorry. I just thought that...maybe. When Pansy talked to Hermione about someone that may be my soul mate with a mark that said I would die a martyr. Remember? When you four stood us up that night in the library? I just thought--" He stopped, glancing away. 

"I just thought maybe it was you," Harry finished. 

Stunned, Draco looked down to see what Harry saw and there, on his arm, he saw not the words 'a martyr,' but also not the blank space he had seen on the astronomy tower. 

His soul mark had changed. 

It now read, "Asleep, Three Minutes After You Pass." 

His tears began anew and, without thinking, Draco threw his arms around Harry, pulling him into a hug. "It is," Draco sobbed. 

He pulled back from a bewildered Harry, wiping his face of tears. "I am. It's--that's what it said. I even showed you that night in the library. We didn't stand you up. I showed you my soul mark and the Dark Mark and then panicked and obliviated you and Granger and Weasley. That's what it said. It had said 'a martyr.' And then when you...When you were dead, it disappeared. It went away." 

Draco looked Harry deep in the eyes. "My soul mark changed because you died and came back to life. It was never wrong. Your first death just wasn't permanent." 

At this, Harry's face cleared up. "That makes so much sense. I did actually die. Really--everything was bright and white and I talked to Dumbledore--it would make sense for my soulmate to have a mark that reinforced that death. And it would make sense for it to change." 

Harry took Draco by the hands. "You are my soulmate," he whispered. "When I first learned about soulmates being real after my mark showed up, I wondered about you. That day on the train, remember? I think something in me knew. Draco, I--" 

Going quiet, Harry stopped himself. And Draco was at a lost for words as well, so he did the only thing that could feel right in that moment: 

He leaned forward and kissed Harry.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> ngl i just really didn't want to write through the war again because that takes so long and i do it w so many other fics and i honestly don't remember the battle of hogwarts that well so i was just like iowjfiojfo SKIP 
> 
> also wow WHAT a cheesy ending but at the same time can you blame me?? as if you didn't know what sticky sweet romance you were getting into when you chose a soulmate au that is part of a series on the trashiest tropes imaginable 
> 
> DRACOS LOVE LANGUAGES AND PHYSICAL TOUCH AND GIFTS CHANGE MY MIND
> 
> ooooh so the title of this fic?? it sounds like changing is a verb like to change fate but then you read the fic and it’s more like an adjective like the changing of fate
> 
> __________  
> Thank you so much for reading!! Please feel free to leave a comment and/ or message me on [ tumblr ](https://www.shelvesuponshelves.tumblr.com)
> 
> I am also currently taking ficlet requests on [ tumblr ](https://www.shelvesuponshelves.tumblr.com)
> 
> Again, this is a series of Trashy Tropes for this ship: the next installment will be a fake dating AU!!!


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